In Jim McCorry’s first season he has had to pick up the pieces from the disaster of James McCartan’s final year in charge and also deal with the blow of Marty Clarke’s unavailability through illness. Both Ambrose Rogers and Dan Gordon withdrawing their availability and the retirements of former captains Benny Coulter and Liam Doyle have not helped the former Kilcoo boss either.
So in January, the prospect of promotion from a competitive Division 2 didn’t seem likely. Down defied the odds though, winning five of their seven league games before Roscommon beat them in a rather drab league final.
In defence Down are settled, mobile and physical. They have got a number of solid options in midfield. But it’s up front where they have been doing the damage, joint top-goalscorers across all four divisions with eleven. Donal O’Hare has been his usual brilliant self shooting 4-29 in the league. Arthur McConville has hit 4-03 from play. While Conor Laverty has begun to shoulder some of the scoring weight too, hitting 3-11 in his 11 appearances in 2015.
Unfortunately he will be looking in from the sidelines this summer, but Marty Clarke, the man who inspired Down to the 2010 All-Ireland final feels they have enough to beat Derry this Sunday and also gave his thoughts on how Caolan Mooney has dealt with his return to the GAA after a four-year absence:
The re-integration of Caolan Mooney to Gaelic Football has been slow but is proving successful and his star will only shine brighter as the year progresses.
The Return of A Star - Caolan Mooney
Caolan Mooney was one of the finest underage footballers in Ireland of his time. He had height and size, was blessed with phenomenal pace and a leap to match, the hair was a little extravagant and he always had that look in his eye that he knew he was bound for greater things.
A Down minor for three campaigns, Mooney was also a sensation at schools level for St. Colman’s Newry, leading them to back-to-back MacRory and Hogan Cup titles in 2010 and 2011, (no mean feat as St. Pat’s Maghera of 89/90 are the only other Ulster side to do so). Man of the Match in the 2011 win against St. Jarlath’s, Mooney hit 0-06.
Night night all. I'll leave you with a classic from 17 year old Caolan Mooney in the Hogan Cup final pic.twitter.com/Q7ZUq8w6XQ
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) March 26, 2013
He made his Down Senior Championship debut later that summer in Round 1 of the qualifiers, starting against Clare and kicking a point. He came off the bench in Down’s three other qualifiers that summer, scoring a goal against Antrim, before Cork sent them packing in a meeting of the 2010 All-Ireland finalists.
All the while, Mooney’s immediate future was not to be in the GAA. Collingwood recognised his potential early, and tied him down to a contract in 2010 before he returned to Ireland to finish his schooling. So at 17, Mooney was excelling at one of the top AFL clubs, and one of the greatest coaches in Australian Rules, Mick Malthouse was amazed by his physical capabilities!
Mooney would made his AFL debut in 2012 at 19, but would only play six more times in total before deciding to return to Ireland in 2014, "to play the game I love", admitting that he didn’t particularly enjoy his time in Austrailia.
He definitely learnt a few tricks down under though:
Jim McCorry has eased him back into life at Down. Having played his part in UUJ’s McKenna Cup and Sigerson campaigns, Mooney appeared in seven of Down’s eight league games en-route to promotion to Division 1. He has scored 1-05 from play overall, operating in a variety of positions - midfield, half-forward and interestingly as a full-forward also. In Round 1 against Kildare he marked his return to intercounty football with a brilliant goal after a forty-yard run.
As Marty Clarke admitted and we saw it with Kerry’s Tommy Walsh earlier this year, it takes a while to settle when you return to the GAA from playing a different sport. Clarke reckons Mooney will only improve as the year goes on.
It will be interesting to see where Mooney will play for Down. His pace and athleticism might be best suited by playing as an attacking half-back, or perhaps if paired with say the more imposing Peter Turley, as a running midfielder. The full-forward experiment is one they may revert to either. Who knows though? As Donegal’s Patrick McBrearty recently pointed out, Caolan Mooney was playing as a sweeper before anyone else:
You were a sweeper before anybody was @caolanmooney !! pic.twitter.com/7aVpVAdBn7
— Patrick McBrearty (@PaddyMcBrearty) February 12, 2015
Down’s 2015 Stats
Promoted to Division 1 of the NFL
Division 2 runners-up: W-L-W-W-W-L-W-L
Players Used: 33
Seven Down players played in all eight league games: Arthur McConville, Conor Laverty, Conor Maginn, Donal O’Hare, Luke Howard, Kevin McKernan, Paul Devlin.
Down had 18 different scorers in the league this year.
Donal O’Hare 4-29 (17fs), Paul Devlin 1-19 (11fs, 2 ‘45s’), Arthur McConville 4-03,
Down under James McCartan
2014 - Ulster preliminary round, Qualifiers round 1 - played 3, drew 1, lost 2
2013 - Ulster semi-finalists, Qualifiers round 3 - played 3, won 1, lost 2
2012 - Ulster runners-up, All-Ireland quarter-finalists - played 5, won 3. lost 2
2011 - Ulster quarter-finalists, Qualifiers round 4 - played 5, won 3, lost 2
2010 - Ulster semi-finalists, All-Ireland runners-up - played 9, won 7, lost 2
Overall - played 25, won 14, drew 1, lost 10
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